India
Apollo Tyres’ new Rs 20 billion (£257 million) facility in India’s Chennai state is expected to be operational from the start of December, and the company states the plant should attain a peak daily capacity of 14,000 tyres by the middle of next year. Of this total, commented the company on November 8, 8,000 will be passenger car radials and 6,000 truck and bus radials.
This year Automechanika Shanghai takes place between December 9 and 11 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, China. Despite the global recession, organiser Messe Frankfurt reports the show has already set a new record with over 2,200 exhibitors from 23 countries and regions, including Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, UK and USA. As a result, the exhibition space has expanded to nine halls, with a total of more than 100,000 square metres.
Goodyear has released a new agricultural tyre for the Indian market, specifically the country’s southern and western markets. Called the Vajra Super, the new tyre is said to address Indian farmers’ everyday tyre problems of wear and tear and punctures in the field.
JK Tyre and Industries is aiming to substantially increase exports from Tornel, the Mexican company it acquired last year. According to the Press Trust of India the company aims to do this within a year through further expand within the Central and South American markets.
Pierre Cohade, president of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Asia-Pacific business, recently asked if we should move away from talking about BRIC countries (the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China) and instead focus on BIIC. Posting this poser on the popular Twitter social network (follow twitter.com/tyrepress for regular tyre industry updates) from his base in Shanghai, Cohade questioned whether Russia’s position as leading light in the global economy should be replaced with Indonesia which, in his words “continues its spectacular improvements.” He’s got a point.
JK Tyre & Industries Ltd. (JK Tyre) reported quarterly operating profits (EBITDA) of 1.369 billion rupees (£17.769 million; 19.670 million euros; US$29.1 million) from sales of 9.38 billion rupees, publishing the details on 30 October. First half (April to September 2009) results show the company achieved post tax profits of 1 billion rupees against net sales of 18 billion rupees.
JK Tyre & Industries Ltd., maker of JK Tyre, Vikrant and Tornel, today (30 October) inaugurated what is reputed to be the country’s first radial truck and bus tyre manufacturing plant. The project doubles the radial tyre capacity at JK’s Mysore site from 400,000 to 800,000 a year, at a cost of 3.15 billion rupees (£40.445 million; 45 million euros; US$67 million). A further expansion of OTR capacity in Mysore, involving an investment of 1.2 billion rupees (£15.395 million; 17.178 million euros; US$25.484 million) is scheduled for completion in early 2010.
JK Tyre has completed the expansion of its facility in Mysore, India, more than doubling radial capacity to eight hundred thousand units per annum. Yet the nation’s growing acceptance of radial technology means additional capacity is still welcome: Company marketing director A.S. Mehta reports around Rs 2 billion (£26 million) will be invested in further expansion during the next 18 months in order to boost capacity by a further two hundred thousand pieces.
India’s Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association has predicted tyre consumption in the subcontinent will grow by five to six per cent in the coming months, yet information collated by Indian based business research firm CARE Research indicates that growth may reach a slightly higher rate. According to the company’s research, India’s tyre industry is expected to grow at 6.81 per cent in the 2010 financial year and at a compound annual growth rate of 8.21 per cent until the 2013 financial year.
Michelin reports its decline in unit sales during the third quarter of 2009 and over the first nine months of the year is “in line with the decline in global tyre markets.” During the most recent quarter the manufacturer recorded a 14.0 per cent drop in unit sales, a figure that shows a lift in sales compared to the preceding months: in the first nine months of the year unit sales were 20.1 per cent down. The French tyre major generated net sales of 3.754 billion euros in the July to September quarter, a 10.9 per cent decrease on the corresponding three months in 2008. During the nine months to September 30, 2009 net sales amounted to 10.888 billion euros, a year-on-year decline of 12.5 per cent. Deutsche Bank analysts comment that third quarter sales were “slightly better than expected”; sales also beat the expected average of 3.727 billion euros gleaned from and a Reuters survey of six analysts. While volumes were as bad as Deutsche Bank’s analysts anticipated, Michelin’s four per cent price-mix for the quarter was a pleasant surprise. Price mix during the nine months was 7.6 per cent.
With India’s auto sales back on the rise in September year-on-year comparisons, Rajiv Budhraja, director general of the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association, told the Press Trust of India that tyre consumption will follow “by five to six per cent in the next six to eight months”. The increase in auto sales has risen by 17.1 per cent overall in September 2009 compared with the month in 2008, while the rise was particularly felt in the passenger car segment, where that increase topped 20 per cent (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers figures).
German automotive technology supplier Bosch admits the recession has left a clear mark on its results. For 2009, the Bosch Group expects sales to decrease by 15 per cent, to some 38 billion euros. In its automotive businesses, the decline in worldwide sales will be as much as 20 per cent at year-end. Yet following the deep recession, Bosch Automotive Group chairman Dr. Bernd Bohr sees clear signs that the automotive business’s situation has stabilised. Orders have begun to improve and during the past few months Bosch has acquired major new projects. This is expected to support the company’s growth in the coming years. However, Bohr cautioned “it could take us until 2012 to return to the pre-recession levels of 2007."
Membership numbers at TRIB, the US based Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau, are nudging the 500 mark following the joining of India’s Sundaram Industries. The TVS Group company was founded in 1943, and TRIB describes the firm as being one of India’s oldest and largest retreading companies and retreading industry suppliers, a company with a long history of service throughout the country. The company’s products include tread rubber, retreading machinery and retreading accessories.
Russian petrochemicals group OAO Tatneft (Kama and Niznekamshina’s parent company) said it is set to expand its tyre manufacturing capacity with the commissioning of a 1.2 million tyres a year all-steel truck and bus radial plant near its existing Niznekamshskina plant in Niznekamsk. The commissioning follows investment of around 17 billion rubles (£362 million; 388 million euros; US$578 million) in line with a plan first conceived in 2006. Increasing demand in this part of the Russian market is said to be behind the move, with Tatarstan truck manufacturer KamAZ Auto Manufacturer lined up as a customer.
According to Tatneft such large-scale construction of a factory from scratch is “really unique in today's Russia” and is part of a strategic investment programme scheduled to continue until 2013 – providing for the “further increase of the Kama-Euro type tyre production.” According to a company statement, Tatneft has implemented major investment projects in this field during the past few years, such as organizing the production of Kama-Euro passenger cars and light truck tyres using Pirelli technology and the construction of a new rubber-mixing complex.
The new plant, which Tatneft refers to as its “SSC Tire Factory” (SSS = Solid Steel Cord) reportedly allows the company to produce tyres which offer 8 per cent more weight capacity and “significantly reduce fuel consumption.” In addition, SSC tyres can reportedly be retreaded up to three times, thus extending potential life up to 500,000 kilometres, says Tatneft.
Commercial production of agricultural tyres at Alliance Tire’s factory in Tirunelveli, India is anticipated to begin before the end of 2009 following the recent commencement of start-up test production. The first products from the US$100 million plant are expected to be cross-ply off-road tyres, and the start of manufacture in India is anticipated to allow Alliance to increase radial production in Israel.
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